planning on planting some oak trees, need help with spacing.

[pharmvet]

Im planning to plant some oat trees up both sides of my driveway some time in the next 2 months. Im in NE texas and was planning to plant red oaks. For those of you who have some experience with this, how far apart would you plant the trees? thanks

 

[UncleCook81]

I find that when it comes to trees the best online resource out there is the following link: http://www.arborday.org they have a wealth of information that should help.

 

[bigtiller]

They have a spread of 60 to 80 feet so I would think about an 80 to 100 foot spacing to give them room to sway in the wind.

 

[Craig Clayton]

I planted thousands of trees on my property by hand or with a stubby 16" post hole auger PTO.
When it comes to being along a drive/lane /path many people plant the small trees too close to the road.
I guess it depends on the trees species and the climate and final look you desire.
I watched many TV shows and alot of trees are ( balled ) are planted too deep or the mulch is piled up on the root crown and that causes root problems. I watched the shows on PBS This Old House with tree experts.

CraigClayton

 

[zzvyb6]

I have a lot of red oaks and hickorys now growing on my property along the fences. The acorns and nuts from the mature trees, quite surprizingly, start up new ones every year which I transplant to other parts of the property. I tend to put them about at every fence post(8-10') so I can keep tract of where they are when mowing. Every year I start another line of them, also about 8-10' apart. After a few years of this, I have quite an array of trees. Certainly no closer because when they are older (and I'm at the end of my rope), I can still run a decent lawn mower around them. Although pines are my favorite, the oaks and hickorys are more native to my location and certainly more durable. For some reason, I have never had any luck with planting nuts, so I wait for them to sprout and transplant them after they are about a foot tall. That only takes 2 years in the very wet, soggy black loam thay start up in. I usually have to fight the squirrels off to get nuts, but maybe its them that are making the new growth appear.

 

[EddieWalker]

They say that you are supposed to plant them far enough apart that the canapies don't touch when they are mature. This gives the roots all the soil under the canopy without any competition from other trees.

Mother Nature doesn't follow this rule, and on my land, they do just fine inches from each other.

Are you creating a tree lined driveway? If so, consider live oaks. They don't lose their leaves and in my opinion, are very attractive. I would also plant them every 20 feet or so just because I think that would look the best. Too far apart and it will look rather empty and naked.

Are you buying these trees? Oaks are like weeds on my land. I clear the land, then every year, I have to keep mowing the trees to keep it open!!!!

Eddie

 

[Redneck in training]

Always look at the size of the root ball relative to the size of the tree. We planted several thousand trees on our farm. The large (expensive even after 75% discount) had very big mortality rate. Especially if the weather didn't cooperate and we were too busy to water them. My experience is that small tree with large root ball will do much better (grows faster and is more likely to survive) than large tree with the same size root ball. They are also disproportionally cheaper.

 

[pharmvet]

Yes, wanting a tree lined driveway. Looking eventually for a tunnel effect. Considered live oak because I too like the way they look. However, saw first hand what an ice storm does to live oak back in 2000. Considering Shumard red oak purchased from nursery (about 6 ft. tall) May also dig up oaks from other areas of property although they may not be same species ( I suppose this would be ok ). Anyway, any thoughts / suggestions are very wanted. Also interested in good watering methods. I will have access to water and hoses if necessary.

 

[Western]

How big of trees are you going to plant? I would go closer together in case mortality hits a few, then you wont have to big a void. In about 50 years you may have the canopy effect with Oaks Oaks are sure a long term investment.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

You may want to consider what kind of ground cover you want; Bermuda, for instance, does not do well in a lot of shade.